Gallery: A passerby lifts police tape to traverse the sidewalk on Cedar Avenue across the street from the site of the New Years Day fire January 4, 2014.

Kyndell Harkness – DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Red Cross workers Choua Yang, middle, Richard Gardner and his wife, Diane Gardner talked about the residents they had seen that were affected by the fire on Cedar Ave at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis Saturday, January 4, 2014.

Courtney Perry – DML - Special to the Star Tribun

Gallery: Sahra Noor, Director of Community Health for University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, left, and Jim Platten, Director of Employed Physicians, center, stand by piles of donated items for fire victims from Fairview staff members at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis January 4, 2014.

Courtney Perry – DML - Special to the Star Tribun

Gallery: The view on Cedar Avenue at the site of the New Years Day fire January 4, 2014.

Gallery: Sahra Noor, Director of Community Health for University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, carries bags of donated items into the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis January 4, 2014.

Kyndell Harkness – DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Katra Ali Hethar talked about her missing husband Mrimri Jama Farah and how she had talked to him New Years Eve after a press conference at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Kyndell Harkness – DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Hawo Daqare listened as pictures of her missing ex husband Ahmed Ali, far right, and Mrimmri Jama Farah who family memebrs say is also missing during press conference at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Glen Stubbe – DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Backhoe work stopped when investigators found what is believed to be a victim. Investigators brought in a backhoe to knock down unstable walls in order to search for victims at the scene of Wednesday's fire on Cedar Ave near 6th Street. Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Glen Stubbe – DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Investigators searched the second floor. Investigators brought in a backhoe to knock down unstable walls in order to search for victims at the scene of Wednesday's fire on Cedar Ave near 6th Street.

Glen Stubbe – ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP

Gallery: A pedestrian makes her along the icy sidewalk as firefighters look over the scene on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Minneapolis, after Wednesday's fire destroyed the apartment building. Fourteen were injured and the cause of the fire is still unclear.

Glen Stubbe – DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Investigators brought in a backhoe to knock down unstable walls in order to search for victims at the scene of Wednesday's fire on Cedar Ave near 6th Street., Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Glen Stubbe – Dml - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: Firefighters worked to remove frozen hoses from the scene of the fire. The scene of Wednesday's fire on Cedar Ave near 6th Street. Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014

Glen Stubbe – Dml - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: The scene of Wednesday's fire on Cedar Ave near 6th Street a day later on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014.

Glen Stubbe – Dml - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Gallery: A Minneapolis worker cleared broken window frames from the ice on Cedar Avenue on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, at the scene of Wednesday's fire on Cedar Avenue near 6th Street.

Gallery: The evening scene of a building fire on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014.

Renee Jones Schneider

Gallery: Adani Ali's burned hands were bandaged after the 74-year-old escaped the fire in his apartment complex on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014.

Jerry Holt – DML - Star Tribune

Gallery: A group of men braved the subzero temperatures while standing across the street from the fire at 514 Cedar Av. S., on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014 in Minneapolis.

Jerry Holt – Dml - Star Tribune

Gallery: Ward 6 Minneapolis City Council Member-elect Abdi Warsame spoke to the media after a fire and an explosion at 514 Cedar Av. S on Jan. 1, 2014 in Minneapolis. More than a dozen people were injured early Wednesday morning after an explosion caused a major fire at a grocery store and apartment building in the bustling Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

A third man has died from injuries suffered in the blast that leveled a Cedar-Riverside grocery and apartment building.

Abdiquni Adan, 29, died Friday afternoon at Hennepin County Medical Center of “complications of injuries sustained in a building fire” the Hennepin County medical examiner said Saturday.

The other two men who died in the Wednesday morning blaze, Ahmed Farah Ali, 57, and Mrimri Farah, who was about 60, were roommates who had known each other since they were in their early teens, according to their other roommate, Mohamed Hassan.

Hassan, 36, said he left the apartment Wednesday morning before the blast to visit his sister.

“I know I’m lucky to be alive,” Hassan said.

At least 14 people were injured in the explosion and fire at 516 Cedar Av. S., six of them critically. The building housed a grocery and a 10-unit apartment building.

Photos by Courtney Perry &#x2022; Special to the Star Tribune

A passerby lifts police tape to traverse the sidewalk on Cedar Avenue across the street from the site of the New Year's Day fire January 4, 2014. Crews continued to clear the area where the building has been demolished, opening some previously restricted surrounding areas.

Cause remains a mystery

The building was demolished Friday, and by Saturday afternoon, the street barricades had come down in the 500 block of Cedar Avenue. A neighboring mosque was up and running with heating and power restored, said Battalion Chief Gary Piekarczyk.

“It’s wet in there, and they’ve got to get things dried out, but at least they’ve got heat and electricity,” he said of the mosque.

Investigators continued to sift through charred property and materials Saturday, with no fire cause yet determined. Officials have been focusing on some kind of gas leak as a cause, based on some tenants talking of an odor of gas before the blast, Piekarczyk said. But there’s no definitive finding yet, including whether it was accidental or intentional, he said.

“I don’t think anything has been totally ruled out,” Piekarczyk said.

“Fires always are pretty twisted and are hard to unravel. It takes a lot of effort, especially a big building that has so much destruction,” he said.

A spokeswoman for gas supplier CenterPoint Energy said the utility’s preliminary findings do not indicate natural gas leaks in ­CenterPoint’s distribution system.

Fast friends

Hassan said he lived in the building for about eight months after moving from the Atlanta area, where he met Ali, who had moved there from New York. He said he became close friends with Ali.

“He was a good guy who liked to help people,” he said. “If he had $10, he would give it to somebody who needed it. He would forget himself.”

Hassan said Ali had known Mrimri Farah since the two were in their early teens, and they had lived together in Somalia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He said the two were planning on retiring early and moving out of the building in two months.

Hassan spoke while at the Brian Coyle Community Center on Saturday, where the Salvation Army and Red Cross were helping survivors with assistance, including long-term housing. Hassan was the only person who came. Andrew Bredow, a volunteer spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said the group is reaching out to other survivors.

Hassan said he slept in his apartment the night before the explosion, didn’t smell gas and saw nothing out of the ordinary when he left that morning. He said the building was in good condition after being remodeled.

Hassan, who works in maintenance, said he has lived with family and friends since the explosion. He said the Red Cross has offered him housing for the next three nights.

Sahra Noor, Director of Community Health for University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, left, and Jim Platten, Director of Employed Physicians, center, stand by piles of donated items for fire victims from Fairview staff members at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis on Saturday.